My purpose of this thread is to document the rebuild of the 1977 Ford my dad bought new, and to share information with others who can learn from my work, and I can learn from others as I go.

My father purchased a 1977 Ford F-250 new from Allen County Motors in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was always in my life since I came along in the early 80s. It started to become a midwestern rust bucket as they all do in Indiana and I drove it when I got my license until 2001 when the 351M started to give up the ghost. I swapped in a used 351M, and new clutch, and new ignition parts, drive it about 3 miles to test it out, and it got parked when I joined the military in 2002. It sat in my parents yard until 2009 when I hauled it out west with good intentions. Unfortunately it sat, and sat awaiting being brought back to life. Finally in 2017 I hauled it to my house and out of the field it was stored in to start its resurrection.

Hauling the 77 F250 home

I got the truck to my house and I put some roller wheels and tires on it since the original 16.5" bias ply tires were not going to hold air. Then I unloaded all the parts that I had stored in the bed for many years.

Unloaded and rolling again

After assessing the situation I realized that the condition of the power assist steering and brakes were too poor to repair economically just to make it drive again. I was going to have to really tear into it and do some work to make it right. I decided it was going to get a frame off restoration. I want to keep it fairly original but with a few upgrades such as fuel injection, overdrive, and air conditioning. I wanted the truck I remembered but a little bit better. lol.
The Indiana winters and salty roads had really taken its toll on everything so a parts truck would be needed for body parts.

 

Love this story. Very similar to mine. My dad bought his '77 Highboy brand new in September of '76. My older brother and older sister were brought home from the hospital in it. We used to take road trips from Denver to Portales, NM with all four of us kids piled in the bed. No seat belts, no AC, no DVD player, no iPads....if we got too rowdy my parents would just slide the back window shut. TONS of memories in that thing. Spent many hours deep in the woods cutting and hauling firewood, hauling garbage to the dump, diving through mud puddles when my mom wasn't with us. My dad had the truck restored in the '90's and repainted again in 2013, along with a new 351M. After he passed away I was lucky enough to inherit it.

Stick with it man!

 

Nice truck! That rust doesn't look that bad. Have you considered patching the original panels? That bumper and grill shell look like they could be straightened too.

 

Nice truck! Great story as well! You still in Indiana? I'm located just south of Kokomo but don't get up to the Ft Wayne area too often. Good luck with the progress and make sure to take pictures and share with us along the way

 

Thanks! Its neat how these things can become part of the family.
I live in southern New Mexico now. That's another reason for body replacement. Living in the desert has turned me kind of snooty to rusty stuff since I have clean metal available to me now. I sure dont miss the rust belt cars.
It was never abused so it probably looks better in pictures than it really is.

 

Last year I found a deal on a 2wd 1979 F-150 XLT Ranger in Colorado. It wasn't a perfect rust free truck but it was leaps and bounds better than what I had and only 67,000 original miles. So I bought it. The guy I got it from was a body guy so I included repairing the rear wheel well rust with repair panels I provided him into the sale price. His grandparents had bought it new in 1979.
Those hubcaps though!
It probably would run but moisture got to the carburetor and the throttle shaft was corroded fast.
I picked this truck because it had factory air conditioning, the price was right, and it was already blue.I am aware this wont bolt right onto the highboy frame. I will have some modifications to do.


New patch panel installed by previous owner.

Hauling the parts truck home!

 

With the parts truck home I began selling the 79 specific parts and started tearing down the 77.
The darn rusty midwestern bolts fought me every step of the way! Lots of PB Blaster!

Lifting the bed off the 77 highboy
I had to use a grinder to get all of the bed bolts off and I lifted the bed off with a friend's John Deere compact tractor. Beats lifting by hand any day!

Unfortunately after emptying the bed of the 79 parts truck and disposing of the camper shell I discovered that the bed floor was paper thin from rust! After spending all that money on the rust repair on the bed I still have to do something about the bed floor... Grrr!!!


Rust on chassis
I also faced some frame rust on the 77 frame that was worse than I expected.

The corner gussets on the back part of the frame were almost gone!

 

Removing the cab was a whole other pain in the butt. Only the rear body mount bolts came out freely. The fronts I had to use a Sawzall and went through a LOT of blades.
I finally got everything unhooked and lifted off the cab with my 1953 Hough loader. Its kind of a death trap but it gets the job done.



Lifting off the 77 cab

Under the cab I found more rust damage that concerned me. The rubber cab mounts had rusted out the mounting pads on the chassis. Looks like I need to weld in new metal, or find a parts chassis with good mounting surfaces.

 

I would consider buying a rust free high boy and using as many parts off yours as possible so it preserves some of the personal connection to it. I cannot even imagine dealing with that much rust, but my hat is off to you if you have the time and ambition to save it.

 

Looking good, lots of work ahead of you doesn’t get any better than a high boy.

 

I agree 440, That would definitely be the smart thing to do. I have even found some really nice original highboys in the Pacific Northwest for less money than I have in this already.

Went over to see a friend that has parted out a few highboys. He said he had three rolling chassis I could use if I wanted. I looked them over and each one had been welded on or modified in some way. So I had to choose between rust, or welds, or replacing crossmembers. And two of his three needed the rear corner gussets replaced. Not as bad as mine but bad enough to need replacement too.
I decided to stick with my frame but use the cab mount brackets off of one of his chassis. This required that I grind off rivets to remove them. It was a tedious job! Then I still had to remove the remaining rivets from my frame to make way for the bolts. This was a long miserable day of grinding and hammering I don't want to relive.


All of the cab mount brackets I took off my friends chassis still had rubber cab mounts in them. How hard could they be to remove? HA!!! I have all new rubber cab mounts so they need to come out. I put then in a press, I beat them with a hammer, I finally took a grinder and cut the top metal hat above the upper rubber into four pieces and it came apart. Unfortunately I don't think the new mounts come with the metal parts so I may need to find them. Luckily the cab mount brackets have nice clean holes and should work nicely.

Meanwhile I took lots of photos of the routing of the brake/fuel lines/brake cables, and such to ensure I put everything together properly. I also bagged hardware in Ziploc sandwich bags to ensure I remember what goes where.

The pittman arm was another point of difficulty. The pinch bolt at the top wouldn't budge! The not finally came off but the bolt wouldn't move. I soaked it with PB Blaster for months! The forward part of the power assist drag link needed persuasion but I had read DO NOT use a pickle for on the front part. Because it will destroy a bushing inside the power assist that is no longer made.

 

On the subject of steering... As most of you know the highboy is unique to be the only truck to continue to use "Power-Assist" steering in this era. Even my older International Harvester trucks have full power steering, what was Ford thinking?. I have been encouraged by many to convert it using a gearbox off of something else and modifying the frame, or using the Benchwork kit.
After much thought and consideration I have decided to retain the power assist system.
Some of you are asking "Why would you do that!?!?!".

I am looking to bring this truck back to the truck I remember but with a few improvements such as overdrive, fuel injection, and air conditioning. That is because when I drove this truck in high school I wished that it had those things. The power assist steering however never bothered me much. Also the fact that the conversion requires invasive surgery and modifications to the chassis I don't have time for, nor do I want to do.
The third reason is my use for this truck. Unlike many who wheel their rigs, or go mudding, or just go to shows, I drive my trucks and use them for their intended purpose. (Except I take it a bit easier on the restored ones )
Fourth reason is cost. The Benchwork kit is $1,600!!!! I can have the manual gearbox, power assist drag link, and hydraulic cylinder all custom rebuilt for around $1,000 to bring it back to a condition better than I remember it.
I also have purchased all new hoses for the power assist. Four of them! lol

I contacted the rebuilder to see how they wanted me to remove the pittman arm so I could send the components. He told me that if I could remove the pittman arm at the gearbox I could leave it attached to the drag link and they could remove it safely.
So I packaged all three parts and sent them to the rebuilder.

 

Might as well discuss the engine...
In 1977 Ford did away with the FE engines and started using the 351M/400 engines in highboys for emissions reasons. Other engines were available in other configurations but not in the highboys. Thankfully the highboys had a high enough GVW they did not require a catalytic converter in 1977 like cars and F-100/F-150s did. Most people regard the 351M/400s as "gutless turds" or 'emissions crisis" engines. Neither would be incorrect but I see potential here.

I have gotten a lot of push to put an FE engine in place of the 351M but I am trying to stick to the truck I remember. So I am determined to stick with the 351M/400 family. I considered the 460 swap with the L&L mounts but I have decided against it, although it was tempting.

I picked up a used running 400 off of Craigslist for $150 for a core. I am planning to build a mild 400 using Tim Meyer pistons and his "400 Popular Kit". Although it will not be cheap to do. Tim Meyer offers the parts to be able to make a 351M/400 the engine it should have been from the factory.
I may just use the low mileage (67,000 mi) 351M from the F-150 parts truck for now and build the 400 engine later and swap in. Depends on time and funding when I get to that point so we will address that later. Stay tuned!

 

Might be too late, but did you look at bluetop? Could have bought "upgraded" bendix box and power assist cylinder for less than $1000

 

Here is an example . https://boise.craigslist.org/cto/d/m...970971384.html

On the power steering, get a Benchworks kit. love it.